Microsoft confirmed this morning that Windows 8.1 has been released to manufacturing ahead of its October 18th retail launch... Microsoft also confirmed rumors that the new operating system would not be made available early to *any* customers.

It is impossible to fathom what was going through the minds of the people who suggested this. Considering how quickly its competitors are spitting out software updates—it’s looking possible (albeit unlikely) that Apple may skip having a CA period for iOS 7’s golden master entirely, and go straight to general availability on 10th September—this level of opaqueness is astonishingly short-sighted.